Gut microbiome & longevity in Greek Blue Zone
Case-control study of 90 fecal samples from long-living adults (≥85 years) and young children (3-5 years) on the Greek Blue Zone island of Ikaria versus non-Blue Zone Astypalaia, comparing gut microbiome features linked to longevity. machine-written summary
90 samples · 90 runs · GR · Child · 2026 · 2.10 Gbp / sample
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what each source gave
| ✓ Sequence archive | 720 sample values (collection date, country, health condition, health condition detail, latitude, longitude, subject id, timepoint) |
| – Abstract / description | no abstract or project description |
| – Full text | no open-access full text linked |
| – Supplementary tables | no supplementary tables available (or none open access) |
| – External resources | not covered by the external resources we ingest |
| – User contribution | nothing uploaded yet |
| – Human verified | not yet checked by a person · I checked this project — verify it |
No Sandpiper profile for this project's samples yet.
| field | samples | coverage | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| age_category | 0 | 0% | ||||
| country | 90 | 100% | 90 | |||
| health_condition | 90 | 100% | 90 | |||
| subject_id | 90 | 100% | 90 | |||
| collection_date | 90 | 100% | 90 | |||
| health_condition_detail | 90 | 100% | 90 | |||
| latitude | 90 | 100% | 90 | |||
| longitude | 90 | 100% | 90 | |||
| timepoint_label | 90 | 100% | 90 |
Archive description
As global life expectancy continues to rise, identifying contributors to healthy ageing has become increasingly important. Blue Zones, which are regions with exceptional longevity, serve as an optimal setting for investigation of age-related health determinants, such as the gut microbiome (GM). In this case-control study, we analyzed fecal samples from 92 participants using shotgun metagenomic sequencing to compare microbial diversity, taxonomic composition, functional gene profiles and strain-level variation in the GM of long-living adults (>=85 years) and young children (3-5 years) from the Greek Blue Zone island of Ikaria and counterparts from the nearby non-Blue Zone island of Astypalaia, aiming to identify features potentially associated with longevity.</p><p>While children showed no significant GM differences between the two islands, Blue Zone adults exhibited distinct GM features compared to their counterparts, including higher levels of Bacteroides dorei and Bacteroides fragilis, and lower levels of Escherichia coli and other Enterobacteriaceae. Regarding microbial functional pathways, Blue Zone adults demonstrated an enhanced carbohydrate-degradation capacity, and a reduced abundance of genes involved in ABC transporters, two-component systems, microbial metabolism in diverse environments, and biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. Notably, no strain-level differences among prominent bacterial species were observed between the two groups, suggesting that the detected functional differences arise at the community level rather than from within-species variation.</p><p>These findings suggest that the GM of Blue Zone adults differs taxonomically and functionally from that of adults on the control island, with features potentially linked to healthy ageing that appear to develop gradually during adulthood.
How this project entered the registry
Classified as human gut / stool shotgun DNA metagenome of child and adult by deterministic_prior with confidence 0.90. Assay shotgun_dna.
- host external_curation.infant_catalog · “infant triage reason_code age_child_over_36m”
- body site study.title · “Blue microbiome: The gut microbiome and Blue”
- body site study.description · “such as the gut microbiome (GM). In”
- life stage external_curation.infant_catalog · “infant triage reason_code age_child_over_36m”
- life stage study.description · “years) and young children (3-5 years) from”
- life stage study.description · “GM of long-living adults (>=85 years) and”
Evidence examples (one per field × route)
| sample | field | value | route | conf. | source | quote |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SAMN50637103 | collection_date | 2020-09-29 | R1 | 0.90 | biosample.attribute:collection_date | 2020-09-29 |
| SAMN50637103 | country | GR | R1 | 0.90 | sample.attr.geo_loc_name | Greece |
| SAMN50637103 | health_condition | healthy_control | R1 | 0.85 | biosample.attribute:perturbation | perturbation: IKA |
| SAMN50637103 | health_condition_detail | IKA | R1 | 0.85 | biosample.attribute:perturbation | perturbation: IKA |
| SAMN50637103 | latitude | 37.5967 | R1 | 0.90 | biosample.attribute:lat_lon | 37.5967 N 26.1123 E |
| SAMN50637103 | longitude | 26.1123 | R1 | 0.90 | biosample.attribute:lat_lon | 37.5967 N 26.1123 E |
| SAMN50637103 | subject_id | IKA.Subject13.Day0.BM1 | R1 | 0.85 | biosample.attribute:alias | alias: IKA.Subject13.Day0.BM1 |
| SAMN50637103 | timepoint_label | d0 | R1 | 0.85 | sample.attr.study_day | d0 |
Sequencing
90 runs over 90 samples · mean 2.01 Gbp per run (median 2.10 Gbp, total 180.65 Gbp; 90 runs with a base count) · layout PAIRED 90 · platform ILLUMINA 90 · models Illumina NovaSeq 6000 (90) · 0% of runs with a Sandpiper profile · first public 2026-09-04
Authors (0)
No author record.
Downloads
PRJNA1306521.csv.gz (3.8 KB) · parquet (75.3 KB) — all 90 samples, every field with route and confidence · PRJNA1306521_determinations.csv.gz (6.4 KB) — 720 evidence rows